Sheik Says Biofuels Are Prohibited by Islam
Biofuels may have hit an unexpected roadblock with a pronouncement by Sheik Mohamed al-Najimi of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy that the fuel may be prohibited by Islam. According to al-Najimi, the prophet Muhammad prohibited the buying, selling, transporting, drinking, and manufacturing of alcohol - including the ethyl alcohol present in ethanol.
- » See also: US Arpa-E Funding Enlisting Cyanobacteria to Make Fuel For Humans
- » Get CleanTechnica by RSS or sign up by email.
If other religious leaders take al-Najimi’s opinion seriously, biofuel could be banned in Muslim countries that currently disallow alcohol. That means Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya, and Sudan could potentially become biofuel-free zones.
While al-Najimi says that his recommendation should not be considered a fatwa (a legal pronouncement in Islam), he does believe that restriction of biofuels should go beyond Muslim countries to include Muslims around the world.
Photo CC-Licensed by xeni
Taking a page from Rockefeller and his $4 million donation to the Christian Women’s Temperance Movement, which allowed Rockefeller to shut down the ethanol fuel industry right as the internal combustion engine began to boom - and by Prohibition’s end in 1937, cheap oil and the huge East Texas and Southern California discoveries had locked out farm ethanol for good - plus the farmers had largely been foreclosed on by bankers like the Morgan firm, who were closely tied to Standard Oil.
Why are they worried? Well, biofuels might replace 10% of U.S. fuel consumption, maximum.
Have you seen what a 5% drop in demand does to the price of oil? Add in electric cars, natural gas trucks, and plug-in hybrids - that spells disaster for the Saudi Royals and their monthly allowances. They should look to Abu Dhabi for guidance and inspiration - they invest a good chunk of their oil profits in renewables. The same goes for Wall Street and London, in fact.
okhan, with all due respect to the religion itself, it does not take an expert to tell that this is a political move, not a religious one. Maybe it’s time for the truly pious people to stand up and stop the abuse of your religion for political purposes, which all religions practice but Islam excells in.
Biofuels are non-Islamic? Is that for real? Or is this some web hoax to see how much we’ll believe?
If it is for real, then all of us making fun of Islam don’t have to do a thing. Islamic clerics are doing a great job of it without any help.
Hurm, Ethanol can be fractionally distilled out of crude oil. And since the distillation process can’t remove it all, there’s no guarantee that any petrol-fuel is entirely bereft of ethanol. I declare a Fatwa against crude oil!
So are bacteria and yeasts prohibited also? Because they produce alcohol. So what do they use in hospitals and biology labs?
That sheik oughta look at what it says in the Koran about how people who pollute the water are KAFFARS. That means that they ought to be stoned to death. Anyone who pollutes the waters! Now can the Sheik or anyone in the oh so religulous world explain to the class, how one can extract petroleum (let alone burn it) without polluting any water? I’m not even talking about poor Valdez, but every drop of water that’s polluted….
And then tell me this: Do hospitals in Saudi Arabia use alcohol? Even to dab on the skin before a needle? Or is that also against Allah?
Sheesh! Once again we see that Allah JC and YHVH belong in the same box as Zeus, Poseidon, Odin, Loki, Baal, and the rest of grandma’s tales. Then hopefully we can evolve and deal with our situation…
All we need to do is make alternative energies of every kind cheaper and more available to everyone…when that happens, this and other neanderthal types of thinking just go away…
Ethanol = Alcohol
Biodiesel = not Alcohol
Why is ethanol considered the only biofuel? Its the worst alternative, yet we want it to solve our problems….